of this year American investigators raided a bowling ball plant in Long Island. They picked up the balls, cut them in half and found within them $210,000 in
used $100 bills.
Despite their active imaginations, the drug barons find it hard to keep up. $25 billion is a lot of money and it must fill a lot of space since most of the money
gained in drug deals comes in bills of $10 to $20. And that is how the match was made between the drug cartels and 47th Street in Manhattan.
This street is the world center for trading diamonds, gold, jewels and precious stones. Hundreds of businesses are crowded in there, between Fifth and Sixth
Avenues. Shops, businesses, display halls. In the back rooms and on the top floors, far from public access, the action takes place. That is where the major
traders sit, and that is where the deals are made. Diamonds, gold and jewels pass from hand to hand with a handshake. The frantic activity there offers an
ideal cover for illegal transfers of money. "In fact, even legitimate business appears, on 47th Street, to be dark and mysterious," said a customs official.
"Merchandise arrives constantly, boxes, suitcases and packages are constantly opened, everything arrives in armored cars, under heavy security and a shield
of secrecy. Now, go find the black money."
"The match between the drug barons and 47th Street," an American customs investigator told Afaai-ii@, "is ideal. The gold and diamonds industry circulates
large amounts of cash. The diamond traders are accustomed to transporting large amounts of money in cash, from one state to another, efficiently and without
leaving a trace, Large amounts of money pass from hand to hand on 47th Street, without arousing suspicion.
"A diamond trader might launder $5 million every day without arousing special attention. it is difficult to monitor the deals, to locate the sources of the money
and it is very difficult to infiltrate that closed field, which is based on personal acquaintance and trust."
Added to it is the fact that in the course of the past five years, the diamond industry on 47th Street has been in a deep slump, which put many traders into
bankruptcy. "A trader like that," said an investigator, "faces the choice of bankruptcy or making easy, quick and relatively safe money. Not everyone is strong
enough to withstand the temptation."
All of that would not have been of interest to us if not for the massive Israeli and Jewish presence on 47th Street. "At least 50% of the diamond traders there
are Israelis," so an Israeli diamond merchant, who wishes to remain anonymous, told Maariv. "Not a few Israelis also operate in the field of jewels, precious
stones and gold. All of them came to New York to make fast money, conquer the market, get their big break. Not all of them have succeeded, especially not
recently." But the Jewish presence on 47th Street is much greater than that.
Experts in the field estimate that 75% to 80% of the active traders on the street are Jews. A large number of them are very pious Orthodox Jews, mainly
Hassids. There is also a respectable representation of Jews from Iran and Syria, usually also very pious. One can get along fine in Hebrew on 47th Street.
There are many more kosher restaurants in the area than in all of Tel Aviv. The place is also the biggest laundry for drug money in the US.
The expansion of the phenomenon of laundering drug money in the US in general, and on 47th Street in particular, led to the establishment of a special
American task force to combat the phenomenon. The unit is called Eldorado, after the mythical South American city of gold. It is staffed with 200 agents,
officials of the US customs and internal revenue agencies. Eldorado, established in April 1990, investigates the money- laundering in general. Fifty of its
agents dedicate their time just to 47th Street.
"It is work that demands tremendous manpower," said Robert Van Attan, an Eldorado officer, "since the money has to be monitored along the length and
breadth of the continent, sometimes also abroad." The target of the Eldorado agents is money, and money alone. They are not interested in drug imports, drug
deals or drug dealers. "We want to put our hands on the money. To hit their pockets," say members of the unit.
The task is difficult. In America there is no law that prohibits possessing money. On the other hand, when a large amount of cash is found in the possession of
a launderer, the agents confiscate the money. If the person can prove that the source of the money was legitimate, he gets it back. That does not happen.
The launderers are experienced. When one of them is caught and several million dollars are found in his possession, he willingly hands over the money, but
asks for a receipt. "The money is not mine. I want you to confirm that you took it," is the common request. Incidentally, their lives depend on that receipt. It is
not a simple matter to trail them. The eyes of a typical launderer are glued to his rear-view mirror. He makes sudden stops, moves from one lane to another,
chooses long and twisted routes from one place to another. Eldorado has an answer.
The investigators follow their targets with eight, ten, sometimes twelve vehicles. If necessary they use one or two helicopters. There is also sophisticated
equipment, the wonders of American technology in the fields of tapping, surveillance and code-breaking. In the first two years of its operations, Eldorado
captured $60 million and arrested 120 launderers. Compared to the scope of overall laundering, that is peanuts. "That is not the point," say the Eldorado
agents. "Obviously, it is impossible, with the existing legal restrictions, to put an end to the phenomenon. Our warfare is psychological."
Incidentally, Eldorado is not the only agency combating money-laundering. The DEA, the American Drug Enforcement Agency, and the FBI, also conduct
lively activity in that field. Not always is this activity coordinated.
In recent months the Eldorado agents discovered a new center of operations. It is called The Cocaine Triangle. Its sides are Colombian drug barons,
Israeli-Jewisli money launderers and Jewish-Russian mafiosi. The Colombians funnel the money, the Israelis launder it, the Russian mafiosi (who have recently
overrun New York in droves) provide the security and the muscle. A New York journalist recently told Maariv: "The Israeli Jews are ataining notoriety in the
money- laundering market. You need only look at the list of arrests and the indictments of the past 3-4 years, in order to grasp the enormous scope of Israeli
involvement in this field."